The Chronicles of Eternity: Humanity and the Halos
by Terrin Nyphon
Summary: What happens when a super genius and an extremely advanced alien race both help fight the Covenant? Read and find out. Title will be explained later. Plz review!!! *chap 5 up!!*
1. Revival

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. I claim no ownership except for the name Serian and Seri, since my brother and I made those up.  
  
A/N: This takes place right after the PoA leaves the REACH system. I can't find the name of the Leviathan's AI but I think its Beowulf. If it's not then tell me what it is.  
The Chronicles of Eternity: Humanity and the Halos  
  
"Sir, The Pillar of Autumn just retreated!" announced a man who looked about 20years old.  
  
"Keyes, the coward!" scowled Admiral Stanforth.  
  
"Admiral! The spatial distortion that opened when the PoA entered slip space isn't closing! It is changing!" The Nav Officer yelled.  
  
"Lieutenant, what do you-" he was cut off.  
  
"Incoming plasma bolt!"  
  
"Emergency maneuvering thrusters, ensigns!" Admiral Stanforth said to the pilots.  
  
"Aye, sir" one of them said  
  
The Leviathan's emergency thrusters sent her shooting up. The plasma narrowly missed but turned for a second shot. Then, space seemed to warp around it and it slowed and started to disperse.  
  
"Beowulf, what in God's name just happened?"  
  
"I don't know, Admiral," Beowulf replied, "but some thing BIG just appeared 200,000 kilometers from REACH. I estimate 10 times the mass of a marathon class cruiser! It looks Covenant but it doesn't register as any known ship design."  
  
Five more of these supposed covenant super cruisers appeared in a box formation around the first as if from out of nowhere. They then fired extremely bright blue-white beams from bumps on their hulls no bigger than a banshee. The intensely bright beams cut straight through the other Covenant vessels and their shields as the large unknown vessel destroyed by captain Keyes and the PoA did.  
  
"Rebellious factions? A civil war in the Covenant? What do you think Beowulf?" The Admiral inquired.  
  
"I don't think so. The larger ships have seemingly more advanced technology than normal covenant. They are destroying countless covenant ships in seconds, shielded themselves from ALL scans, and have yet to attack us. We maybe dealing with a completely new species!"  
  
"Well if so I don't want to get off on a bad start! Open a channel to all UNSC vessels and tell them not to fire on them unless I give the order or they fire first!"  
  
"Aye, sir, transmission sent," the Comm. officer stated, " Sir, Covenant forces neutralized, and we are receiving a transmission from the new ships. Routing it to Beowulf for attempted translation."  
  
"It appears to be in multiple languages. I can identify some of them. One is grunt, another is the elite's language, and one appears to be . . ." Beowulf hesitated" . . . an altered form of Latin, with bits Germanic languages."  
  
"Impossible! That would mean that their language is from Earth!"  
  
"Or vice-versa, sir," Beowulf replied.  
  
"It contains a video file that appears to be in Covenant format. Playing on main view screen."  
  
"Hello," a humanoid with white hair, yet who appeared to be in his early 20's started, "We are the Serians. We wish you no harm but advise you not to cross us. We note that you are also at war with the Covenant. Your ships are very unadvanced and weapons inaccurate. We advise that you immediately upgrade your ships with the attached technology (see information packet) if possible. We have noticed an unusually large amount of worlds that have been decimated, a Covenant tactic. If you are in need of economic, military, technological, or social help, please make a request to the Alliance de' Pax.(see information packet)."  
  
"Sir, a 900 megabyte super compressed file has been sent to us as well as a translation program," Beowulf acknowledged.  
  
"Why super compress it if it's only 900 megabytes?"  
  
"Sir, it is 900 megabytes after super compression and appears to be only one part of another file. 15 other ships are reporting a large file after super compression."  
  
"Lets get it the to what's left of ONI."  
  
Over the next few months ONI tries desperately to decompress the files with little luck while the remainder of the fleet fought off Covenant invasions with help from the Serians every now and then.  
  
"We've been at this for 4 months and we still cant get this darn puzzle solved yet! (A/N: If you ever saw the movie Contact with Jodie Foster you know what I mean) 7,000,000 screens, no two alike with little symbols at the top and sides that appear to link together," Scowled an enraged man with white and gray hair who appeared to be in his late 50's or early 60's.  
  
"Dr. Harshman, please calm down! It's impossible to work while your so stressed," declared a woman who looked about 30 with red hair and very thin.  
  
"Dr. Baker, Earth, Mars, Europa, Sigma Octanus and REACH are the last of the human controlled worlds! How can I calm down?!"  
  
"Why don't you take the rest of the day off? Relax, go home watch some vids, or holos? Maybe watch some news over the web."  
  
"Good idea. Maybe that will calm my nerves. Maybe there was even a victory with Serian help."  
  
"Yeah, concentrate on the positive."  
  
"You sound like my Zen instructor before he committed suicide."  
  
"That's a nice thought." They both laughed.  
  
Dr. Harshman left and took the subway home in a state of complete stress. When he finally go to his small 3-room apartment he took to the internet to watch some of the news vids.  
  
"Today, the UNSC's chief weapons supplier, Robotics and Technology aka RobTech, have decided to announce the revival of Robert Masters, the man who invented the original slipstream later rediscovered and refined slightly by the famed Shaw and Fujikawa, refined fusion, compacted fusion into the fusion cell, and invented hundreds of technologies lost in the Great War that broke out only 16 days after he was cryogenically frozen on July 31, 2060 at the age of 71. He was supposed to be unfrozen on July 31, 2560 but since the scientists at ONI seem incapable of breaking the 'code' that the Serians sent, with is believed to contain information on the Covenant, a group known only as the Alliance de' Pax, and on the Serians themselves, they have moved it up about 7 and a half years. It is also believed that the 'code' contains major technological advancements for humanity and a way to accelerate the recovery of the human race. In other news the UNSC fleet has completed its first super cruiser in 20 years. The Dragon Wolf is the first ship to be installed with complete ship based shields and the new Starburst ship killer missile. It also carries 15 larger Shiva nukes designed to decimate large fleets of Covenant. It has the new "super-cooled" engines and a magnetic recoil system allowing 3 shot bursts from each of its 4 'Big MAC's which are twice the strength of a normal ship based MAC gun."  
  
"What? The Robert Masters? Will he be in ONI? What about the lost techs? Will he recover them?" Dr. Harshman went on like this for hours finally falling asleep.  
  
Meanwhile. . .  
  
"Cryo lock 1-4 check. I'm having some trouble with 5. It appears to be the timer but I can't hack it. I am going to try a small electromagnetic burst to engage the emergency unlock . . . It worked. It's unlocked proceed with thaw out sequence." Said a familiar purple AI hologram. She and the Chief had made it back when the Serians had detected a large energy distortion around a Covenant world.  
  
A hiss of super cooled air spread through the sterilized chamber that hadn't been opened for over 491 years. Two 30-meter thick doors slowly opened one at a time. They had been designed to withstand a 1-giga ton blast with 2.5 kilometers of rock, steel, titanium, and tungsten over head. Once the time consuming process of opening the twin 30-meter thick doors was completed, and the Cryo-tube prepped to be opened the momentous event would take place. A clone of him was made with scars and such replaced. It had to be rushed like the Spartans' clones were since it was eight years before schedule and it was currently only 14 years old. His clone was brought in by the maintenance techs for the transfer. It was fitted into a machine that inserted a small cord into what was the base for the UNSC's neural implants. The monitors showed him go completely brain dead. Dr. Masters was soon helped into the machine bye the maintenance techs.  
  
"Mental transfer beginning," Cortana announced to no one in particular.  
  
"Mental transfer complete."  
So what did you think? Should I continue (if not to bad :P I am going to)? To short? Flames will be ignored. Politely state what I need to improve upon. This is a normal chapter compared to the others I am gonna write! 


	2. Remberance

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. I claim no ownership except for the name Serian and Seri, since my brother and I made those up.  
Remembrance . . .  
  
"Cryo defrost complete, and mental transfer complete." Cortana remarked.  
  
The now 20-year-old man stood up and looked around. He stumbled slowly to the elevator; nearly 500 years of numbness wouldn't wear away in a few minutes. Cryogenics engineers and surgeons rushed around him making sure that the only hope for the Human race wouldn't fall down and kill him self.  
  
"Well, my company must be doing fairly well if I have so many people 'helping' me." He gestured for them to move away. Most of them did so, reluctantly. A few stayed and helped him, though Dr. Masters tried persistently to get them to leave him alone. He took the elevator up to the Cryo observation room with Cortana.  
  
"Hello, is any one here?" he chuckled to himself remarking that even though he looked and felt 20, he still sounded 71. He was then startled by the appearance of Cortana. He mumbled some thing about an "advanced" AI, which took some of the engineers, and indeed Cortana by surprise.  
  
"Dr. Masters? Are you feeling okay?" Cortana inquired.  
  
"Marvelous! It is so wonderful to be truly alive again! I had some consciousness in the cryogenics pod, but lacked true free thought. My concentration program was designed to keep me from going insane, but now that I am free of it, I know how much I missed it."  
  
"I am glad for you, Dr., but you see, we had to wake you a few years early because-"  
  
"Of the Covenant, I know. My concentration program fed me the latest news available. I realized quickly that this war was not going in your favor by the lack of decisive victories, and the order for more and larger ships. I apologize since it is partially my fault you are losing so badly. I could have put an uplink to Robotics and Technologies if I hadn't been in such a rush to avoid the war. Billions could have been saved."  
  
"So you mean you have the technologies?! That is great news since we need them extremely desperately! Your shield technology, advanced fusion, lasers, plasma weapons. You could even reactivate the ancient weapons in the defense ring!"  
  
"Wow, the defense ring is still floating up there? I thought that the Alliance for Asian Liberation and the Neo Roman Empire would be blow it to dust, while fighting the US"  
  
"We know who the US are but not the other to factions you mentioned."  
  
"What? How could you not? They were the only 3 major factions of the war. I mean the only way you couldn't have known was if . . ." Dr. Masters hesitated for a second "take me outside."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Last time I checked I was an Admiral of the 12th United Nations Aerospace Naval Fleet."  
  
"Last time I checked there was no 12th United Nations Aerospace Naval Fleet."  
  
"It would carry over to other fleets. Also, I believe that I am your only hope."  
  
"Fine, take him outside."  
  
"Ohh, yes, how are my finances?"  
  
"You are still profoundly rich."  
  
"Most excellent."  
  
With that the last of the first batch of SPARTAN II's walked in.  
  
"Ahh, Master Chief, it is good to see you," the holographic image announced, "Please escort Dr. Masters outside. Make sure you show him the ring." The Master Chief was reminded of Halo every time he looked up. The orbital defense ring around the Earth was a hulk of metal, given some armor plating, that hosed some of the most powerful weapons in the human arsenal, and some that weren't. Plasma cannons, shields, lasers and something called a nucleon generator were inside that relic. Nothing but the new MAC guns worked, but it would surely intimidate even the Covenant. With Dr. Masters here though, the intimidation would no longer be a bluff.  
  
"So, Master Chief, have a name or just a rank?" Dr. Masters asked.  
  
"My friends call me John." It then hit John that he had said friends. He was becoming soft. He kept telling himself that he couldn't become soft.  
  
"Well, I don't like Master Chief, too much work talking, so I'll have to become your friend, John. I know I don't seem to charismatic, but I am just a little sleepy so I tend to get, uncharismatic I guess. You'll probably like me a lot more after I upgrade your suit. It seems kind of . . . weak. I'll fix it up; make it with stand a direct shot from a tank. You seem to have weak shielding, and some bulky armor that seems . . . well, weak."  
  
Later at an ONI debriefing . . .  
  
"Dr. Masters, you were charged with war crimes but were never tried, but for a lack of evidence, we shall allow the charges dropped. Now about the 'lost techs'-" the ONI officer was cut off.  
  
"You mean the lasers, and super fusion, etc?"  
  
"DR. MASTERS!!! I COULD HAVE YOU COURT MARSHALLED! That was an act of insubordination, and is a court marshal able offence!"  
  
"But, I am a civilian."  
  
"Your record shows that you served in the 12th United Nations Aerospace Naval Fleet."  
  
"Served. My term of service or whatever has been over for nearly 5 centuries, also I was pronounced legally dead, rendering myself free of all contracts except my will."  
  
"Then consider yourself drafted."  
  
"No."  
  
"WHAT!!!"  
  
"I refuse to serve. If you want the technologies, then you leave as me a civilian."  
  
"Extortion! I could have you drawn-and-quartered!"  
  
"Go ahead, I have nothing to live for, I have no family, no home, though quite a bit of money, but I have lived already, so I don't mind dying."  
  
"Then why do you refuse to serve?"  
  
"Because, I cant stand to see death. I couldn't study the WWII holocaust without puking when I was a child."  
  
"The what?"  
  
"Wow, you guys really did lose a lot of information in the Ending War. Well, I'll let MY AI explain it.  
  
A blue light appears from something Dr. Masters takes out of his pocket. It is a long black piece of metal with a few points coming out of what appear to be glass.  
  
"Hello, Arthur."  
  
"Hello, Dr. masters, how are you?" The blue aura inquired.  
  
"Fine, will you please tell them the short version of the story of WWII and then the story of the great war for both of us?  
  
"Yes, Dr. Masters"  
  
(Note: This is kind of pointless but interesting. Not meant as an insult to anyone.)  
  
"WWII happened accordingly. In 1940, Germany took over most of Europe under the leadership of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. They slaughtered millions of 'Jews' and other enemies in there death, and concentration camps until 1945 when the Allied forces of the United States of America, Britain, and other countries fought the nazis back and ended the war with the unconditional surrender of Germany. Hitler committed suicide and the Nazi party crumbled. The Ending War was the successor of WWII. In 2030 10,000 soldiers from the 'Neo Roman Confederation' poured into Great Britain, overwhelming the unsuspecting recently disbanded military, and poorly organized militias. The soldiers quickly conquered the nation, and moved on to capture the rest of Europe, Russia, and Mediterranean, Indian, and Atlantic costs of Africa by 2042. In 2039 a terrorist organization called the 'Asian Liberation Army' assaulted Singapore, the Middle East and parts of China. They eventually established regimes through out most of the Middle East, and parts of China that declared independence by 2042. The Neo Roman Empire, as it was called, often assaulted the Asian Army for Liberation. The UN was lead by members of the Neo Roman Empire, and America. As with most situations back then, the UN was arguing, and getting very little done, but eventually, the UN decided to issue resolutions to the now called Asian Liberty Empire in 2045. Then conditions between the UN and the Asian Liberty Empire deteriorated and in December 2049, on Christmas day, supposedly, to America's discontent, because the state religion of the Neo Roman Empire was Catholicism, the ALE used pirated technologies to create and use a weapon of mass destruction that destroyed the greater part of Brazil. This was considered an act of war and the UN immediately brought all reserves into action. Then on March 23, 2050, 11.24 million soldiers assaulted Shanghai, China, reducing the city to ruins. They quickly made there way to the Emperors palace in Lanzhou and destroyed there center of government, which made there empire shatter, into three main pieces: the Earth Regimes, the Spatial Navy, and the Colonial Armies. The first was quickly defeated, the third not a real threat, because of their distance from Earth and the other colonies, but the second posed a threat to everyone. The 1st through 25th United Nations Aerospace Naval Fleets were deployed to deal with them. They eventually won, but the war was devastating to the atmosphere and economy. Many opted to make the expensive journey to the colonies where, life was better. The Earth quickly descended into a second Dark Age. Only 300,000 were able to survive the harsh environment of the world, until 2387 when terraformation teams successfully finished natures slow process and made Earth populatable again. By 2453 it was once again the Center of the Human Empire. The UN was reestablished and a fleet and army were made to protect the world from pirates and such. By 2500 Earth surpassed it former glory in everything except technology. In 2525 the Covenant forces decimated the UNSC's warships and began the assault on Humanity. The only hopes for humanity at the time were some 14-year-old children who wiped out a Covenant cruiser. I believe we all now the records from there." Arthur lectured.  
  
"Well, several million soldiers, and 500 ships were no match for the Covenant yet some 14-year-olds were? Incredible," taunted Dr. Masters.  
  
"Yes, it was . . . unfortunate," replied one ONI officer.  
  
"Yes, it was."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
AN: So? Review!!! More should come soon. 


	3. Contact

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. I claim no ownership except for the name Serian and Seri, since my brother and I made those up. I also would like to note that the puzzle was the idea of the people who made the movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster to my best knowledge.  
  
A/N: I can't find the name of the Leviathan's AI but I think its Beowulf. If it's not then tell me what it is. Also, I know nothing about cars. You'll see what I mean. And the one race is the one from that one game. No others or specific characters from that game though. Once again you'll see what I mean.  
Contact . . .  
  
After 2 weeks of getting settled, Dr. Masters begins to work on the "code". He has obtained a 5-acre plot of land on the coast of the Pacific Ocean near Seattle. On it there was a relatively large house made of brick and marble. He had a large computer system installed as well as an AI memory core containing "Arthur" his AI.  
  
"Well, lets take a look at that code, Arthur," Masters said as he opened up the file. "Good God! No wonder they were having trouble! 135,000 Gigabytes is gonna take a while. Better call for pizza, Arthur." Masters then set to work cracking the code while Arthur ordered pizza and analyzed the code.  
  
Over the next six weeks, Masters spent hundreds on pizza and coffee while working insanely on the code. He had become quite agitated as he worked on it. At the same time the UNSC cursed itself for not having him do the reintegration of advanced weaponry first since its third most dreaded dream, or nightmare, became reality; Sigma Octanus was lost. Masters was extremely angered and took his rage out on his Servants who worked in the mansion.  
  
"God, Arthur," Masters began, " God Da-"  
  
"Incoming message from the UNSC headquarters," Arthur said in the middle of Masters' sentence.  
  
"Dr. Robert Masters, you are to begin the upgrade of UNSC weaponry, and other technologies. Secretary of Defense, Timothy Alstrom out." As he finishes Masters became enraged and threw the keyboard at the wall. It makes the images on the screen move showing strange depth that had been tested for any importance but been found negative.  
  
"Hah, still use normal 3D rendering. Wait a second, 3d rendering that's it! A 3 dimensional algorithm!" Masters sat back down and began to type rapidly.  
  
In the course of a week he had completely solved the puzzle and was now looking for a primer. After about two days of looking, he found it and applied it to the now cracked code. What he saw amazed him. Star charts of the galaxy, information on millions of different species from all six kingdoms and a few of multiple kingdoms, information on spatial anomalies, and a dozen different files filled the huge file. Masters was ecstatic for about 15 seconds before he received a message from Secretary of Defense Alstrom.  
  
"Masters! You have failed to follow your direct command! You have not appeared at the facilities to show us those technologies and oversee the construction of . . . it." Alstrom scolded.  
  
"You won't care in a few seconds. I have just done some thing that may have been more important than building a hundred 'its'."  
  
"You mean?"  
  
"Yes, I cracked the code and found the primer. It is incredible! I will transfer it to the rest of ONI immediately."  
  
"No! Transfer it through hard disk or encrypt it. We can't allow that to fall into the wrong hands!"  
  
"You're right, I am on my way!" Masters then deactivated the hologram communicator and encrypted the file with several different encryptions, then sent it to the ONI headquarters for himself when he arrived. He quickly wet his hair, combed it, changed into some blue jeans, and a white collared shirt and jogged to his car, an American made McClain jx-113 solar powered automobile. It took him about 30 minutes to get to the airport and buy the tickets to Washington DC. When he arrived, he made his way to the car rental station and rented a car. He finally arrived at the head quarters at 4:30, 4 and 1 half hour after he left.  
  
"Here, it is! The code is broken," he told the other scientists, "it was the depth thing! It hinted that they were to fit together 3 dimensionally! The little holes on the top allowed it to be built up because they were mathematic equations! They allowed me to access the incredible wealth of knowledge!" Masters was overjoyed to tell them but they seemed less enthusiastic because a guy who was legally dead for 500 years out showed them.  
  
"Dr. Masters, we're receiving a transmission from REACH. It's Secretary of Defense Alstrom. Bad new," a marine said to him. Dr. Masters walked over to the slip space communicator and was then immediately terrified.  
  
"I repeat, REACH is under attack again! We've lost half the orbitals already! Contact the Serians and ask for help! We're not gonna make it otherwise. OH SH-" the communicator went dead.  
  
"Oh my God. REACH, the fleet, ONI headquarters, the UN secretary-general, the presidents. Marine! Open a slip communication on maximum amplification to point 7211.652 by 5023.432 by 1431.244! It should reroute through an unknown method to an unknown location!" Masters yelled in a commanding voice.  
  
Meanwhile on Seri . . .  
  
Inside of a huge building that was well over 8 kilometers tall and took up 16 square km on the ground were several thousand people. Yet in a large hall with intricate paintings, and carvings, literature, and many other artistic pieces lining the walls, two men in very urbane dress were talking to each other.  
  
"Yet, this new race is fighting the rebellion as well!" the first man pleaded. He was 6'8" tall, and had shave brown hair. He was wearing a uniform similar to that of US naval dress during the early 21st centaury yet with much more silver and gold..  
  
"I realize this Abrith, yet they are far to basic to truly have a place in the Alliance," the second man responded coldly. He was 6'10", built slightly less than John. He had flowing silver hair and an unyielding look on his face. He was wearing a similar pair of clothing but his had a blood red cape, and a dozen different insignia and 40 different campaign badges on his uniform. He was also wearing a platinum coil on his left arm with an inscription reading "Coniugium Terrinix Anicrum Nyphona Adamo Ria Arimus Tecrius".  
  
"You let the Arisans join! Why not them?" Abrith continued.  
  
"I would thank you not to revert to denigration! That was an act of rage for with I shall eternal bemoan! That race of cretins shall deform our beautiful alliance. They did however have a tenacious attitude that served them well to be destroyed at the hands of the Protoss. Our diplomats and historians will forever hold me responsible for our current situation, which I am." The second man said.  
  
"My liege, Terrin, please let these people join! They're your fathers project! A race of powerful warriors, brilliant scientists, and grand leaders! A man that had been frozen for 500 of their years, or 250 Amplus Aetas (Major Epoch or year) is capable of the frigate technology!" Abrith beseeched him.  
  
"Really, then why do they need our help?" Terrin asked him.  
  
"Because they have lost nearly all of their military and population. They're empire is dwindling! Ohh no! Terrin, it isn't really-"  
  
"An empire? How large was it at its peak?" Terrin responded obviously interested.  
  
"Almost 200 worlds, my liege. Yet they have only 5 habitable worlds left. One is Terra," he responded quietly.  
  
"So my father did create a powerful race. I am surprised we allowed it to slip out of our control. Retched Protoss scum," Terrin remarked.  
  
"Please sir, at least meet with them. I am sure your son would love to meet his grandfathers other legacy. He already knows you." Abrith smiled at Terrin.  
  
"Yes, he would love to meet my namesake species. He does love his ancestry. At that time a man walked in. He bowed to Terrin and Abrith.  
  
"Your Imperial Omnipotence, Emperor Terrinix Nyphona, Magistrate Abrith-"  
  
"Get on with it! What have you to say General?" Terrin yelled.  
  
"I apologize but the species from what they call Earth is sending out an open distress call!"  
  
"The fools! Didn't they read the instructions to send a distress call? Now the Protoss and Asbirnath will be on them like zealots on a battlefield! Send a full battalion! They may be a useful tool against these rebels! Hurry, hurry!" Terrin commanded.  
  
"Yes, sir!" The General saluted and exited briskly  
  
"Is that the real reason, Terrin?" Abrith asked.  
  
"Partially, my friend, partially." Terrin grinned.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, what did you think? Short I know. I needed to get this out soon though. It isn't really a Star Craft crossover, just using the Protoss because they represent everything Terrin (or Terrinix) despises. No Zerg or Xel'Naga. Also, I read somewhere there where books on them. If you could please email me the name and/or author of these books, if they exist, I would be very grateful. 


	4. The Grand Fleets

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. I claim no ownership except for the name Serian and Seri, since my brother and I made those up.  
  
A/N: I can't find the name of the Leviathan's AI but I think its Beowulf. If it's not then tell me what it is. And for illustrations, visit my homepage and look under Photos.  
  
The Grand Fleet . . .  
  
"Sir, a special anomaly is forming within the defense line. It doesn't match any known Covenant warps," an ensign said as Captain Jonathan Bravo nervously passed along the bridge of the UNSC Dark Knight. The battle had been going poorly for the human fleet. They had lost nearly 40 of the 79 ships that had survived the first assault on REACH, and the orbitals were at 10% of what they were capable of in the first defense. Now there were only 2 Super MACs left to defend. In addition, the Covenant were striking with double the ships and a new, phalanx tactic.  
  
"God, will those Covies ever give up? As soon as those ships are out of there, blow them to kingdom COME!" Captain Bravo said to the gunnery officers. The Dark Knight was equipped with twin MAC guns, half a dozen Long sword interceptors, six more F-34 Panzer fighters, 2000 Archer missiles, and a few retrofitted missile pods with four Starbursts each, totaling 32. It was actually quite impressive for a retrofit. It had held it's own in battle time and time again, along side the Dragon Wolf and still was considered a powerful ship.  
  
"Sir, may I suggest a different plan of action?" The Nav Officer asked. He had dark brown hair, and a rough beard extending .5 mm off of his face. He had a red patch on his arm the contained the words, "Lets kick some a$$". It was the patch for 145th Elite Airborne Assault Division of the Marines. The real Nav officer had been KIA when a plasma bolt struck the shields and caused him to fall out of his chair five meters below to the bottom of front view screen. He had landed on his head because he had failed to attach the harness correctly. Thus, they were in need of another Nav officer and he seemed the best choice. "That maybe the Serian forces, so we should wait until they emerge to decide whether or not to fire the MACs."  
  
"Good point, Son, but I still want those MACs hot but don't fire until I give the command. Also, arm twin Starbursts. OH MY GOD! I heard the Serians had a lot of ships but that is insane!" Captain Bravo screamed. The view screen was filled with the metallic silver of Serian vessels, similar to that of the Covenant. Over 2500 ships had warped in, the equivalent of 25000 Marathon cruisers. The ships immediately moved into a phalanx formation around the 38 human ships that were left. The small human fleet was totally eclipsed by the gargantuan masses of metal. Plasma bolt after plasma bolt struck them, causing no visible effect except for a glow approximately 30 meters off the ships hull that had to be their shields. The cruisers then began charging massive cannons located on the tip of their forward spikes. After approximately 30 seconds, the massive cannons fired bright red beams, which warped the space around any ships in their path. After a two second burst of energy, the beams dissipated, revealing that hundreds of Covenant cruisers had been annihilated. Hundreds of others were heavily damaged with their hulls warped, or melted on one side. The Covenant then made a move to retreat, but the Serians cut them off. Covenant ship's hulls began to buckle as if an Earth Quake had hit them. These appeared to be the results of Serian fighters making bombing runs over the Covenant ships, though this baffled the Human forces.  
  
"This is High Admiral, Vice Magistrate, of the Serian 2nd Grand Fleet, Marcus Aragus. We received your distress call and were immediately ordered to assist in the defense of this world, and more importantly, its defenders. I would advise you leave this system at once or we will both be over run by other, not so benevolent species." A man with dark brown hair said to them. He had a strange look, seemingly happy, to his face, one that would not seem be appropriate at a battle scene.  
  
"This is Admiral Stanforth of the UNSC fleet. I am, unfortunately not trained to be a diplomat as well as some others in my ranks are. Anyways, what business is this about a force over running our collective forces? My men have repelled attacks such as that which just occurred and of greater force at Sigma Octanus," Stanforth announced proudly.  
  
"Yet this system you speak of fell to the Covenant days later. FOOLS! Have you not seen the power of our ships? If we will be overrun so will you! If you do not immediately leave we will all die! Furthermore," I women walked up behind him and whispered something in his ear.  
  
"What," he said in a low voice that was bearably audible over the transmission, "how could they have got here so soon? It would have taken them at least another half-hour to intercept the transmission and make it here, unless they were within the Imperial boundaries. Curse those Protoss." He returned to the transmission. "You fools! Now we may all die! Get out of here! We may not be able to defend you!" With that he cut off the transmission.  
  
The Serian cruisers began to leave the phalanx formation they created into a spread out formation. 25 ships began to open a special anomaly and fired beams of energy at the human ships. Admiral Stanforth realized what was occurring and ordered all ships to fire reverse thrusters away from the anomaly. The UNSC ships began moving forward despite the reverse thrusters they fired. Soon the ships were pulled into the area between the Serian ships, which then began to cast a large blue field onto them selves, and the human ships, which lay in the overlap. The ships then began to move into the anomaly.  
  
"Captain, the anomaly seems to be bending space-time to a point beyond what we could ever imagine doing! It's almost as if it was folding it, and it's pulling us in!" The Nav officer was terrified as she told the Captain this.  
  
"Calm down. If the Serians trust it with our safety, then we should relax, they seemed pretty concerned about it." Captain Bravo reassured them.  
  
Meanwhile, large dark blue and black ships lurched out of the anomalies at the edge of the system. Along with them came large yellow ships that had hundreds of smaller ships around the taking off and landing inside them. The blue and black ships were of the High Imperial Guard Navy of the Asbirnath. The yellow ships were carriers from the Protoss 3rd Fleet. Then, several larger yellow ships, with blue lining on their hull appeared. These were Protoss Planet Killers. They had weaponry that would shatter Serian shields and hulls in seconds.  
  
"What have you done to bring us to such a remote location, Serian?" A Protoss templar asked Aragus. Aragus looked at them through the communications line and said some curses, then cut it off. The Serian armada then began to charge their cannons, and scrambled the rest of their fighters, which made their way towards the Protoss carriers.  
  
"Serian leader, Marcus Aragus? Why has a distress signal been activated?" A Blue-black swirl of light and mass of an almost hair thin tentacle-like fibers, and eyes inquired.  
  
"Vice-lordship, I apologize on behalf of the Human species. They were in need of assistance, and were not aware of the fact that this would bring you to this location. Now may we please settle this matter peacefully?" Marcus Aragus requested of him.  
  
"Yes, we shall settle this peacefully, but the Protoss seem to be in disagreement. I shall try to settle things with them. Good bye, Marcus Aragus." The creature said to him.  
  
"Good bye, Imperium." As Aragus turned away he scowled that his chance for promotion to full magistrate of the Serian 1st grand fleet was likely ruined. Had he been able to defeat the Protoss forces here, the Emperor would've been extremely grateful. 2,475 Serian ships versus 20 Protoss carriers, and 5 Protoss Planet Killers, or PKers would be an extremely easy battle as well. Of course there would be some Serian deaths but still he would have his win and probably a promotion. Of course he deserved this though. He had served the Empire for longer than the Emperor himself. 488 Amplus Aetas (AA) of service to the Empire had gotten him to where he was. He was a self-made man, a real product of the Serian dream of a poor soldier enlisted in the Grand Naval Fleets becoming so close to the Serian Imperial Senate, or the Grand Imperial Council. By becoming an executive magistrate after this promotion, he could become the Magistrate Executor Imperial of the Serian Military forces. At that point he would rival only the Emperor in power. Such honor and prestige could be his. His "personal interests" could be assured a safe place at that point. He ran a high risk having such an interest, but he had kept it secret for over 100 AA since its establishment and even through its period of acknowledgement.  
  
"Vice-Magistrate, the Emperor wishes to speak with you." The same young woman said. Her blonde hair tied back neatly as per military protocol 2343- bc something. Some of these protocols were absurd in his mind, but he admitted they worked. He then stood and bowed as the Emperor's face appeared on the holographic projector.  
  
"I trust the humans have been escorted out of the system, unharmed," Terrin glared. He had never truly liked Aragus. Aragus was the complete opposite of him, self-made, direct battlefield tactics, and no family. He despised Aragus for these reasons, almost to a point of a thorough background search that would violate his rights as a citizen of the Serian Empire, especially a Patrician like himself. Yet, he had served alongside Redonexus, Terrin's father and saved his life on several occasions. He forgave Aragus because of these reasons and had even invited his to dinner parties of the Serian Imperial Senate, and of Grand Admirals and Executive Magistrates of all branches of the Serian empire, from the armies to the political reformists, though that could almost be seen as an insult.  
  
"Yes, my lord. We have personally seen to it that this Protoss scum has had no contact with the humans. They are on there way safely to Seri to meet with you as planned," Aragus announced proudly.  
  
"Very well, Aragus, but if you BEGIN another conflict between or people, I will personally see to your execution! Good luck," Terrin announced as the entire bridge crew turned to face his powerful glare. Terrin then began to walk away and his first step seemed to deactivate the COM link.  
  
"Sir, you still haven't addressed the Protoss templar," the woman spoke to him.  
  
As Aragus turned back from his to his chair he sighed agitatedly.  
  
"Yes, Templar?" Aragus said in an almost mocking tone.  
  
"Pathetic Serian! You dare mock me, a High Templar, by referring to me as a mere Templar! You seem to wish to start another conflict it appears!" the High Templar Demanded.  
  
"Now now, the carnage that occurred during our first conflict was unprecedented. Over 50 billion lay dead from that war and over a trillion wounded or saddened by the loss of their loved ones on our side alone, and I am sure that your species lost many more, I believe half your race died in the conflict, and all were deeply saddened by loss of at least two members of they're family before your surrender," Aragus threatened.  
  
"It was a mutual agreement of cease fire! You agreed to it and your name, Aragus, was even on it! We both mutually consented to it!" The High Templar raged on.  
  
"You believe that if you wish. Returning to our topic, this was a mere accident, our new relations in this system have activated a distress signal that has unknowingly called you here. You may leave this system now," Aragus said with great contempt of the Templar.  
  
"I choose not to believe you! Serian treachery is at it's greatest at your level, second only to your Emperor himself! This is likely a trap set to destroy Aiur once and for all! My fleet shall now begin battle with yours! Good bye, Aragus," The Templar then turned his end of the comm. link off and the Protoss ships then began to shift into a battle formation.  
  
"Curse the Protoss scum. Are all of the Arcanum craft deployed?" Aragus questioned.  
  
"Yes, milord, we have deployed them all. All 38325 ship-to-ship craft have been deployed and are now on their way towards the Protoss carriers. Pinpoint defense on line, main ship-to-ship cannons online, missile and energy missile batteries online, shields at 100% and armor ready to deploy," a young man said as Aragus sat on his soft chair made of an extremely rare material within the Serian empire, silk. "Fire all energy missile batteries, and then recharge them. The priority targets are the PKers. If any ships remain use the Tachyon Cannons to shoot them down."  
  
"Sir! The Protoss have seemingly flanked use and their landing craft are descending towards the planet!" The young man said.  
  
"God! May those retched Protoss burn in the afterlife! Deploy our Legions and call back the 312th-320th Arcanum class squadrons and ready them for infantry support on the planet!"  
  
"Sir, more Protoss craft are appearing on our flank. 234 Scout ships, 143 Carriers, 231 Arbiters, and 47 PKers," The man said in fear.  
  
"Oh great, we're in trouble now. I want the Narcissist and the Utopia to cover our flank and assemble five battle groups of two cruisers, five frigates, and one carrier each. Finish off those PKers in front of us, then have the ships turn to face the new battle groups and use our Lucifer's Tachyon Cannons to destroy them. The priority targets are the PKers, then the Arbiters, and finally the carriers. Our fighters priority is to stay alive, and take down those carriers and then the scouts but they're primary objective is to stay alive while doing this." As he finished speaking the ship shuddered. "What was that?"  
  
"Phase Disruption Cannons, Sir, about 10 Arbiters are within firing range."  
  
"Fire pinpoint guns to take them down." Several of the bright beams that they fired at they're first visit to REACH shot at the Arbiters wearing down they're shields and eventually slicing into they're armor destroying they're weapons systems and finally bowing the ships up into blue-white fireballs. Another energy beam hit the ship, though only one this time, causing much greater force.  
  
"Sir! We've just been hit by a PKer!"  
  
"Great, turn us to face the PKer, and fire two Mark V Nuclear missiles," He immediately responded.  
  
"Yes, Sir." Two relatively small metal slugs that seemed like elongated spheres that came to a point at one end and an engine on the opposite launched towards the PKer breaking its fire but not destroying it in fact barely scathing the armor while bringing down it's shields.  
  
"And where are those battle groups?" Aragus demanded.  
  
"They're ready, Sir, and awaiting command."  
  
"Have them cover the rest of the fleet, and take out those retched PKers! They really are the only things that pose a threat to us."  
  
"Sir, the Neo Roma Battle Cruiser has been destroyed! It took down a PKer though in a suicide ram maneuver. The Legions have landed and secured a beachhead."  
  
"Very well, now fire a Lucifer into that PKer that was firing on us."  
  
"With pleasure, sir." The bright red Lucifer cannon decimated the PKer and caused the ship to explode in a nuclear, psionic fireball. It's escape pods we're quickly shot down by Serian pinpoint defense.  
  
"Now for those PKers that tried to flank us. What is our status?"  
  
"Armor projection ready, Lucifer I at 100% and II at 5%, energy missile batteries I-V at 23% and VI-X at 73%, 28 Mark V Nuclear missiles ready for fire, shields at 54% charging at 2% per minute, and hull integrity at 100%, sir."  
  
"Charge the other Lucifer, arm five nukes and fire at the formation of PKers nearing the planet. We must defend that planet, if we are to complete this mission." Five more metal slugs fired at the formation decimating it.  
  
"The Augusta IX Battle Cruiser has been destroyed! Its battle group is being over run by Carriers and PKers!"  
  
"Have them abandon ship and set self destruct. Have the Tigris frigate go by and pick them up."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
"Only twenty more PKers remain."  
  
"Good, have all ships regroup into battle formations of three frigates, three carriers, and nine cruisers. Any remaining will accompany us in the main battle group. We will then launch a full attack against him. Three groups will take the left flank, three more the right, three the bottom, and three the top while the rest of us charge through the middle."  
  
"Yes, Sir." As the groups came into formation they were still under heavy fire but they held formation and managed to pull off the plan with only five more ships lost.  
  
"Now, route the Carriers and remaining Arbiters while the fighters finish off those scouts." He sat back in his chair and relaxed since the major threat was gone, but there was still a chance more could warp in or that the Carriers could still bring some more of them down and he didn't want that.  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
"Now it's up to you, General, save those humans and get me my promotion."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Man, that took long. Oh well. Review!!!! Please, I beg you to review! If you like it say so. If it needs work say so and how! If you hate it, politely say so! I'm new to battle scenes though so that's why it kinda sucked, but the ground forces should be fun. Up next The Ground War. Oh I know that there is no PKer for the Protoss, and that it was the carriers that glass planets, but they take to long to fire so the Serians needed major threats so I added a new unit that is much more powerful decimating planets with two or three pulse rounds (it uses pulse rounds). Well, bye. 


	5. The Ground War

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners. I claim no ownership except for the name Serian and Seri, since my brother and I made those up.  
  
A/N: For illustrations, visit my homepage and look under Photos.  
  
The Ground war  
  
Massive flashes of blue and red pulsed through space as Imitra Renix Destri flew the large troop carrier into the planets atmosphere. She was one of the five in the flight crew of the Troop carrier, affectionately named the Legio drop ship because of its use as the main deployment ship for ground forces, and one of the 5000 in the fleet. The Legio drop ship carried full 6000 soldiers, 250 Augusta class Heavy Armored Fighting Vehicles, which the humans referred to as tanks, and 250 LRVs at full capacity. It was heavily armed, with twin tactical cutting lasers on either side, 4 Air-to-Air Missile batteries, 4 Air-to-Surface Missile batteries, and a pulse laser. It had a full 4 cms of Trilinium armor, which the Serians used on all capital ships, covering every part of it. It had no external engines though, since it used a graviton vibration engine that was capable of being incased in armor, though the armor had a blue tint to it caused by the graviton generator.  
  
Imitra new she was flying into an extremely dangerous environment since the Protoss had already deployed thousands of soldiers and probes to the surface. The probes would warp in buildings, up to 30 a minute per probe though the buildings took a full 5 five minutes to warp in completely. And after five minutes they would begin making zealots, the Protoss main infantry soldier carrying twin energy spikes powered by his own psychic, or as the Protoss referred to it, psionic energy. They were also equipped with powerful armor that was about 3cms thick and could withstand Serian infantry weapons from a single soldier for a full 15 seconds, which was sufficient time to rush in and hit the soldier for several seconds should they be with 100 meters of each other. These weren't her worry though, since they couldn't attack any aerial targets, the dragoons were. They used a phase disruption cannon that was almost as powerful as the arbiters. Imitra had lost many friends to Arbiters, and just as many to Dragoons. Another problem was if they decided to warp in the High Templar. They wore the same armor, but had much more powerful shields. Using they're advanced psychic abilities, they had the ability to create fields of pure psychic energy heavily damaging anything near it. An even worse problem was the Archons. If the Executor, the equivalent of a Serian Fleet Admiral, declared it an emergency the high templar might combine to create a being of pure psychic energy, held together by its psychic shielding, which was unrefined and only as powerful as one High Templar's shield.  
  
"Alright, boys, we're going in!" ~~~~~~~  
  
Major Sergeant Edwin Jones fired his last assault rifle clip down at an elite spraying 40 low caliber explosive rounds into its head. His company had only 35 men and women left. ODST's had been immediately deployed to compliment the SPARTAN 2.2s, which were station on REACH, while the SPARTAN 2.3s made their way from Earth.  
  
He glanced around in curiosity of all the different creatures and machines that had landed. They had proved themselves hostile, VERY hostile. They had slaughtered nearly 20 of his soldiers in 5 seconds, and their guns were useless. It took 10 soldiers firing full auto empting their entire clips to bring one down.  
  
"600 rounds . . . My God. Might as well bring in some nukes to stop these thing," the sergeant said under his breath.  
  
"No kidding, Sarge! Those things just keep coming and we've lost most of our ammo to them already! It's a good thing we secured this high ground, they're blade things can't reach us, unless they can climb the walls, since we blew the elevator shafts and stairwells." A young PFC said to him. The company had secured a 12 story building on the outskirts of town and was using it as a base of operations. From here they could see the ongoing space battle, and the only sign of hope they had, the Serian Legion Droppers. The Serians called it something else, but their weird Latinish language was beyond him.  
  
Several floating robotic sentinels followed the ships in. He had first seen them in the Threshold 3 campaign, and they were devastating. Massive energy beams fired from a focal point incinerating anything for 2.5 KMs in its path. Thousands of Covenant, and several inattentive humans had fallen pray to them. They were also insanely hard to destroy. He had seen one take a wraith mortar, and still fly, though severally damaged.  
  
He really hoped the Serians could pull off a defense of the planet. These creatures were somewhat stupid charging at a soldier with a ranged weapon to try and hit with a melee weapon, but they seemed nearly invulnerable to standard issue MA5B assault rifles, SSRM sniper rifles, and unreachable with shotguns, it took two M19 SSM, or Jackhammer, rockets to stop one of these guys. He prayed that reinforcements would arrive soon with a full company of M808B Scorpion MBTs and those beautiful HE rounds that stopped Wraiths, Banshees, Shadows, and Covie Dropships in their tracks. Those might help even the odds a little bit.  
  
"Sir, the Serians are requesting cover fire for their Dropships," a voice crackled over the disrupted COM channels. It was General Jorge Moreno, a close friend of his.  
  
"Okay you Human-Grunts, lets cover the Serian deployments! Shoot any non- human or Serian creature down there!" Edwin knew that it was just to distract the creatures long enough for the Serians to deploy from the Dropships, which was about 15 seconds. It amazed him that 6000 soldiers, 250 Serian MBTs, and 250 Serian LRVs or 125 Serian heavy artillery could deploy so fast, but it was true, he'd seen it on Threshold, and was about to see it again.  
  
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Field Master Resbrin 'Gortuma was in charge of defending the angels from the Serian overlords, and infidels. He was in charge of a small army: 25,000 Grunts, 25,000 Jackals, 2500 Elites, and 1000 Hunters. This was an unbelievably large force to deploy considering most invasions had 50,000 or so soldiers TOTAL. He was in charge 53,500 soldiers. He also had 5000 Seraphs, and 2500 wraiths complimenting his forces though not under his direct command.  
  
'Gortuma had never been blessed with the honor of defending angels, since the Overlords held some uneasy peace with them. The angels' golden armor shone bright under the shadow of the massive Overlord transports.  
  
"All units, open fire on the Overlords! Sub-Field Master 'Partamay, have your soldiers fire upon the Dropships. Then, once the Overlords themselves are out, switch bombardment to them! Have your Seraphs destroy the robotic craft, and bombers! We must succeed for the Savior! He will soon be unveiling his plan to over throw the Overlords!" Every Covenant knew of the "Savior". He was the leader of the Covenant even above the Prophets, maybe even above the Angels and Arc-Angels, which his kind fought so often. He was an Overlord himself, though he too wanted freedom for the Covenant. 'Gortuma prayed every day that he could help in the revolution instead of just fighting infidels, and today was his chance. The Prophets on Haven thought knew that the Overlord would assist again, so they sent in nearly half a million soldiers to the 10 most crucial areas on the planet. What they hadn't expected was a force this size, or the angels, and arc-angels plan to help invade. This would surely be a glorious day for the Covenant and the revolution!  
  
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Imitra brought the dropship down to 1 meter when the ramps deployed and the Serian infantry hurried out, the Serian MBTs rolled out, and the 250 LRVs here ship was carrying deployed. 15 seconds to deploy, 5 to clear, then Imitra, the flight crew, and the dropship took off.  
  
Imitra fired a photon charge in the Covenant grouping up ahead, they looked like they overestimated the time it took to deploy and were just now targeting the dropships. The charge decimated ten wraith tanks, and two lines of jackals trying to deflect the Serian infantries pulse laser blasts. Imitra wondered how the Emperor could be so concerned about a weak opponent such as that. Imitra had little time to think though as her ship took a direct hit from a rebel fuel rod cannon. It startled her and the gunners, but the Seraph was quickly destroyed. Had that been an Arbiter or a Dragoon, the gunners probably wouldn't have been able to respond in time, and Imitra would be another name on the Great Monument of Seri, not that it wasn't an honor to be placed their.  
  
Imitra had one more stop before returning to the relative safety of the Fleet in space. Her stop was a small city named New Washington, the capitol of this settlement they called a world. The scale of human architecture and colonization was pitiful. Supposedly massive buildings a mere kilometer tall, and 30 million people on such a beautiful world, one that rivaled possibly Inipa Debin Oribia, her home world. Her mission in the city was to pick up survivors of a recent rebel and Protoss assault that had been fought back by fast reaction Serian spec ops, the Dark Legionnaires. That reminded Imitra that she would be graced by the presence of the Dark Legionnaires as well as the petty human civilians. That almost made the danger worthwhile, almost.  
  
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Grand Serian Infantry General or "Dux" (Dooks) Lucifer Reinfield Augusta IX commanded the entire 6,000,000 soldiers deploying from the Fleet including the 62,500 artillery units, the 250,000 Augusta HAFVs, or MBTs, the 125,000 LRVs, and the 5,675,000 infantry soldiers from the safety of the Lu Veii Seraphim, the same ship Marcus Aragus commanded from. It was the flagship of the Serian 2nd Grand Fleet and a pride of the Serian Empire. Modified to accommodate the Emperor himself, it had a smaller amount of rooms, because of the amount of the rooms that were for the officers. On board that ship were 10 rooms for the 100 soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, and barracks for the Dark Legionnaires, as well as the normal troop bunks and cryopods, though the cryopods were used only to transport the highly injured or, unofficially, troops when the cruiser carried more soldiers than beds per rotation. He usually let that regulation be infracted, though many of the other Generals and Duxes were much more strict.  
  
"Yes, I want Naval Legion 73 To attack the rebel base at grid 75-43. Naval Legion 100 will fight back the Protoss forces at grid 332- 51 and secure the human capitol upon this world. Proceed with the invasion tactic since the Protoss and rebels have definitely ingrained themselves in the city. The rest of the forces will proceed with the plans they were given at their briefings," The Grand Dux rolled his neck as real time displays showed exactly what was going on down on the world. His neural uplink handled most of important information while the displays handled the rest. He issued some more orders as the Serian equivalent to the marines routed and was routed by the Protoss and Covenant. Half an hour into the fighting, 45,000 Serians, approximately 100,000 Protoss, and most of the Covenant were all dead. This was a horrible casualty rate for so early in the new war. The Ascension had started in a massacre by a Serian militia that had formed illegally and traveled to Neo Exructia and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Protoss before the Protoss army could reach and annihilate them. The killing of Serians caused great anger among the empire though it was provoked. The Asbrin and Org had nearly allied with the Protoss after the massacre. Had they, the Serian empire would no longer exist. Though the Serians could handle any one of them individually, that alliance would crush the Serians under the sheer amount of enemies.  
  
The Grand Dux wondered where the Army of the Serian Empire was and why they weren't here. The several billion soldiers of the Army could easily rout the Protoss but a mere six million would have trouble fighting a nearly endless amount of opponents as the Protoss continued to warp in soldiers until they suffered enough losses to stop sending in soldiers.  
  
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Master Sergeant Jones was beyond relieved as two Serian dropships unloaded soldiers into New London and evacuated the injured civilians, and soldiers. He was on board a transport heading for a Serian cruiser with a med bay, a mess hall, and a FTL engine with a course set to Earth. It was kinda scary though that the Serians new about Earth, pre-fourth century history, geography, and many other details of humanity. What was even more disturbing was that at the year 476 CE, back before humanities unification and the installation of the military calendar, which was the exact year of the Roman Empires fall. It was obvious that the Serians had played a role in humanities development by the fact that that Rome and Greece had such similar culture as to that of the Serians. Same, or nearly the same languages, the massive increase in philosophy and technology, much as the Serian fifth or so renaissance that occurred much earlier than humanities civilizations. Some suggested that the Serians played a role in civilization as early as the Sumerians, the Assyrians, or even the Neanderthals.  
  
Soon he would board the Gamma Orion, a cruiser full of allies, and hopefully some of the ODST's from the human ship Albatross from which he was deployed. They split into three main assault groups and lost contact when the Covenant jammed the communication in New London. Soon, he would be truly happy for the first time in 29 years.  
  
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Well that's the first half of "The Ground War" I'll try to update more often if any of you like this. If not, don't read it. I'll also try to put up more illustrations. 


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